Discuss Council Organization

Purpose:  The purpose of this report is to determine the committees, boards, or authorities to which Council members will be appointed.  Also to be determined are the appointments for the official newspaper, approval of the annual contract with TimeSavers Off-Site Secretarial Service (TOSS), and appointment of legal services.  

Background:  Each year, Council members are appointed to serve on different committees, authorities and boards. Attached is a list of the committees as well as a description of what they are and when they meet.  Council members are asked their preference for appointment, and a resolution with the final selections will be adopted by Council at their meeting later this evening.  Tentative positions will be listed based upon stated interests plus staff distribution of remaining positions to balance out the obligations.  Information will be sent out later to the Council by separate e-email once all Councilmembers have indicated their preference.  Each Council member needs to consider individual time of meetings as well as overall commitments.  These assignments can change based upon council input and discussion.


The Chair and Vice-Chair positions for each committee will be appointed at that committee level.  With regard to EDA appointments, the Code states that the appointments shall be made by the Mayor with the approval of the City Council.  It should be noted that each board and commission does have a staff liaison and the EDA and the EPB have Councilmembers appointed.

Last year, a question has been raised whether there should be Council appointments (ex-officio) to the Planning Commission and the Park and Recreation Commission.  As a reminder, the City's Code states the following with regard to such appointments:  Ex-officio members.  The City Council may appoint, by majority vote, a Councilmember or city staff person as ex-officio members of any board or commission privileged to speak on any matter without a vote, and the ex-officio members shall provide a liaison between the board or commission and City Council. 

Attached is the resolution that is on the Agenda this evening for formal adoption.  Please note:  The 2019 appointments are listed as they are currently approved; including Councilmember Heinrich's appointment to the Highway 10 Committee (resolution #19-137) and multiple changes that were made at the October 8th meeting (resolution #19-246).  The 2020 appointments  are printed in Italics, which means they are open for discussion.  The 2019-2020 appointments  are already adopted; unless the Council wishes to revise any of these 2-year appointments, they will remain as is through December 31, 2020.  If there are any changes to the appointments based on discussion this evening, those changes will be incorporated in the resolution that is on tonight's agenda, prior to execution.  If there are any changes, it should be noted during the adoption which changes were made.  

The organizational resolution includes declaring the City's official newspaper.  At the time of this writing, the City has received one proposal - ABC Newspapers - the Anoka County UnionHerald.   Such proposal is attached to this case.  The Anoka County UnionHerald has historically served as the City's official newspaper and currently provides the most regular coverage of City.  The proposal from ABC Newspapers states the rates for 2020  will remain unchanged.  

Also included for Council review and approval is the Addendum to the Recording Secretary Service Agreement between the City of Ramsey and TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial (TOSS) that extends the expiration date to December 31, 2020 (attached).  The addendum shows a less than  2.5 percent increase in the rates.  Approval of the contract with TOSS is part of the resolution.

Appointing legal services is another part of the Organization Resolution.  The current agreement with the City's Attorney, Joseph Langel of Ratwik, Roszak & Maloney, P.A. is effective from January 2019 through December 2020.  The firm of Eckberg Lammers was contracted with in January 2018, for prosecution services through 2021.  The City's policy has been to review outside professional contracts on a three to five year basis.  

Approximately 15 minutes

N/A

City Administrator
Administrative Services Director

To receive clear direction from the Council with regard to the appointments to committees, boards, and authorities, designation of the official newspaper, the addendum to the Recording Secretary Service Agreement and appointments for legal services.